Keurig One Touch Milk Frother Review

I am a coffee lover (tea too) and I always like a little coffee in my steamed milk. In other words, save your espresso, save your coffee black, bring on the dairy!

I cannot always get to Starbucks for my morning java. And for years, I have had to live with cream and sugar or 2% milk in my coffee when what I really wanted was a frothy, foamy latte with sugar free vanilla syrup.

I’ve tried using useless milk wands from electric espresso makers…you know … the inexpensive ones that you fill with water and the steam pressure isn’t even enough to knock the wrinkles out of wrinkle free fabric.

90 seconds and you've got delicious frothy foam.Then I was nuking my milk to make it hot enough and somewhat frothy enough for the coffee but even so...if I wanted the true frothy latte experience, I had to get my dead behind up and go out to Starbucks or some other barista bar where I hoped the half asleep 18 year old behind the counter had enough lucidity to make something drinkable. Not always the case.

When I came across the Keurig One Touch Milk Frother in my local Bed, Bath and Beyond, I fell in love and got sticker shock at the same time. BB&B has the One Touch for 89.99. OUCH. Keurig’s website has it for $79.99 and Amazon.com has two models; one for $67.99 and $82.95.

The One Touch is going to froth your milk. It will also heat it up! It will whip it, heat it and do it all in 90 seconds or less. Pour it out into your cup, pour your coffee in and you honestly cannot tell the difference from the four dollar a day coffee habit some of us have developed.

There is another added bonus: the less fat in your milk…the frothier the foam. No joke. I tested the One Touch with heavy whipping cream, whole milk, 2% milk, 1% milk, skim and three different commercial non dairy creamers.

The whipping cream, which I have great success with making butter and whipped cream, falls flat in the frother…literally. It’s still delicious in the coffee but if you’re going for a Cafe Breve (drip coffee with steamed cream), you’re not going to get a silky foam. The less fat in the dairy product the frothier your foam.

Whole milk made a nice foam, and there was little difference between the 2 and 1 % milks that I tested. I got a nice silky foam and the hot milk product. Skim milk, by far, produces the lightest foam. And while skim milk has come a long way since the 70’s when skim milk looked seriously weak and bluish, I like a richer taste in my latte.

The best bet for taste and richness actually lies in using a sugar free vanilla non dairy coffee creamer. If you like skinny vanilla lattes, this is your move. You pour the coffee creamer into the milk cup, froth it, pour it in, pour your coffee and you are seriously good to go. For other flavors like mocha or hazelnut or whatever, there are several sugar free (or non sugar free) syrups out on the market that could be combined with 1%, 2% or skim milk or regular flavored non dairy coffee creamer to make the perfect milk foam for your coffee.

And Into Your Coffee....

It’s a tough economy out there, I get it. And for some, a $80 to $90 kitchen gadget isn’t exactly at the top of the priority list. Economists Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard both list eliminating barista bar coffee drinks from your budget as a Number One way to save money daily. And I would agree with them. Using the Keurig One Touch Milk Frother is one way to do just that. Depending on your barista bar visits, the Keurig One Touch could pay for itself in under a month. Also note that the One Touch also makes great steamers ( steamed milk with a shot of flavored syrup) steamed apple cider and hot chocolate. Almost any hot coffee beverage you’re buying in a daily stop, you can save money by making yourself at home.

Also, Starbucks has just recently announced that, in conjunction with Green Mountain Coffee, the company that produces the K Cup for Keurig Single Serve Coffee Brewers, they are coming out with their own line of K Cups. This is a move, by Starbucks, that I view as brilliant. Reports I am reading state that 80% of Starbucks’ brick and mortar store customers do not own a single serve coffee brewer. Starbucks, perhaps in a smart move to reach out to someone other than that Four-Shot-Double-Shaken-Not-Stirred-Fresh-Organic-Dolphin-Safe-Non-Fat-Half-Spun-Macchiato crowd, is pulling in those of us who don’t have the time to stand behind the pretentious dweeb at your local coffee house who rattles off a litany of special instructions for a cup of coffee.

Biscotti anyone ??

And so much the better. The One Touch solves several problems and has several uses. Yes, I’d like for it to be less expensive but I paid the price because it gives me what I’d get in any barista bar and I’d pay for it there anyway. When it comes to some gadgets, you really do get what you pay for and the One Touch ends up saving me plenty of money in the long run.

Product Information

Steams and froths milk and non dairy creamer to a nice silky foam for a variety of hot drinks. Will steam apple cider as well.

Cons:

I don't know that this a con really but the One Touch does not froth high fat dairy products very well. Whole milk will froth to a somewhat silky foam, heavy cream or whipping cream will not froth. The One Touch will steam these products nicely but will not froth them. 1-2% milk, skim milk and non dairy coffee creamers froth the best.

Nice review! Have the same machine under a different brand name – obi nordic. Agree it makes nice warm froth, though it advertises that it can also warm milk without frothing (by removing the aerating ring). This does make it less frothy, but not ‘froth-less’, so it would be great if it had two settings, one for just warming the milk, and one for frothing it too.

Got one of these as a gift over a year ago. Works great and saved a bundle once I slowed my Starbucks addiction/compulsion. There are only two caveats. 1. It’s a bitch to clean the bottom. 2. Over quick time, the silvery non stick coating scratches off from multiple cleanings.

@Fred: yes there are a lot of hand frothers out there but the kureg really makes it best and effortlessly. The frother moter compared to a cheap hand held takes a lot less time. If u don’t mind manually cleaning the small stainless steal kettle, the kureg really is a one step champ frother that’ll make you feel more of coffee barrista than a hit or miss regular drive thru paper cup of Joe. One last comment on the kureg: skim works best but you can only froth twice before you need to clean the kettle or the milk will burn…

Jyfyvy,
Yes, I bought this and wanted to review it because I thought it was a cool gadget. I also bought the Keurig coffee brewer that I reviewed and the Margaritaville “Fiji” frozen concoction maker that I plan to review.

This product will not save you a dime. Combine it with the Keurig brewer, and everybody that comes to your house will want a cup of coffee. You will spend a fortune becoming the neighborhood barista…

All joking aside, this is a great product. I bought mine a couple years ago, and it has provided me with plenty of great coffee. My friends and family do ask for a lot of coffee when they visit though. 😉

I bought mine on-line less than a year ago November. I’ve used it all of around 350 times and the spinner seized. It’s dead as a doornail. I’m normally very careful with mechanical things. Kept it clean, etc. Yet KAPUT. Be aware that it is relatively expensive and doesn’t last that long!

I actually think this is a great item, but there is a caveat, I am on my second one and they do die or stop working (even if you carefully follow all instructions) far sooner than the price indicates. Hoping Keurig has not built in this weakness and that future versions last longer, because it is an excellent frother, just not a long term one in my experience.

I will say I love this machine…and fat free milk frothes the best and I will let you all in on a secret…buy the sugar free syrups from Starbucks, they might also sell you a pump…add 2 shots of expresso and I save $8.00 a day… No lines no waiting….lol

I'm currently working on a review of the Fitbit Charge 2. The Charge 2 is an updated version of the Fitbit Charge HR that I reviewed last year. It combines the smaller sized wrist wearable looks with the features of the Fitbit Surge. Stay tuned for my review coming soon.